ABSTRACT
Objective: To find out the association of psychological stress with political activism on social networking sites [SNS] in adults. To find association of psychological stress and political activism with age, gender and occupational status
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study of 8 months [Aug 2014 to March 2015] was conducted on young adults between age group of 20-40 years of different universities of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Closed ended standardized questionnaires [i.e. Cohen Perceived Stress-10] were distributed via non-probability convenient sampling among a total sample size of 237. Sample size was calculated using WHO sample size calculator and data was analyzed in STATA version 12
Results: The mean age of participants was 21.06 + 1.425 years. Out of the 237 participants, 150 [63.3%] were males and 87 [36.7%] females. Regarding their occupation, 13 [51.9%] were military cadets, 8 [3.4%] were consultant, 47 [19.8%] medical officer, 3 [1.3%] PG students and 56 [23.6%] MBBS students. Significant association of occupation was established with both political activism and psychological stress [p=0.4 and p=0.002 respectively]. Among 237 individuals, 91 [38.4%] were stressed out and 146 [61.6%] were not. Among whole sample, political activists on SNS were found to be 23 [9.7%]. Out of these 23 individuals who were politically active, 15 [65.2%] were stressed out and 8 [34.7%] were not. A significant association between stress and political activism was established [p=0.005]
Conclusion: Political activism via social networking sites is playing significant role on adult person's mental health in terms of stress among different occupation